Child restraint systems are well known in the art, and are designed to protect children from injury or death during collisions. The design of child restraint systems typically vary depending on the age and relative size of the child. For example, children under 4 feet, 9 inches tall may require the use of a simple booster seat until they are large enough to use an adult seat belt. Infant safety seats typically have more components, and place an infant in a rearward-facing, semi-recumbent position.
Typically, an infant safety seat is made up of two components: a car seat carrier, and a base into which the car seat carrier is mounted. The base is positioned on the seat of a vehicle, such as a car, truck, train, or airplane, and secured using the restraint system of the vehicle, or a latch system. For example, a base is typically secured in place on an automobile seat through the use of the vehicle's seat belt or a LATCH (Lower Anchor and Tethers for CHildren) system.
The car seat carrier is then attached to the base, typically using one or more connection points. This allows the base to be left secured to the vehicle seat, while only the carrier is removed. To provide maximum protection to the infant, the carrier is typically oriented such that when the infant is properly placed in the carrier, the infant's feet are nearest the seat back.
There are a number of issues associated with each of these two components. One such issue is the variation in slope and position of the vehicle seat onto which the base is placed. For example, some vehicle seats are horizontal, or nearly horizontal. Others, however, are much more sloped. Typically, the inner portion of the seat, where it meets the seat back, will be at a lower height than the outer portion of the seat, where the child's legs hang from. Therefore, the base, unless it has an adjustment, is positioned at different inclinations, based on the vehicle's seat. These differences in inclination cause the infant car seat to also be at different inclinations, some of which may not offer sufficient protection and comfort for the infant. Height adjustments within the base can be used to minimize this issue.
Currently, some of these issues are addressed in a variety of ways, with varying degrees of success. In some cases, the solutions to these issues are expensive, thereby raising the price of the infant safety seat. It would be beneficial if these issues could be addressed in a safe, convenient and cost effective manner.